White Trash

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My mom is wrong about a lot of things. She believes in herbal supplements, online medical advice and the good intentions of many politicians.

But my mom can also be right about some things. I ignored one of them for a long time.

White trash.

My mom hates that phrase. She has told me that every time I’ve used it since high school.

“Don’t use that term,” she said. “I don’t like that. It’s a terrible thing to say.”

And she’s right. It is a terrible thing to say. Worse, my mom is the only person I have ever heard say so.

That’s why I will no longer use the term. Not because I am a good person, but because I become disgusted with myself when I do.

White trash refers to one thing. Poor white people. Anyone who claims the term means anything more specific is lying.

I address the definition because its misrepresentation is the basis on which American society allows the term. It is a misrepresentation that is common, deliberate and useful to classists who cannot possibly defend why they claim to hold socially progressive views in comparison to the poor people they consider “trash.”

People who use the term try to explain in two arguments why they don’t mean “poor white people” when they use the term. First, they say that by “white trash” they don’t mean poor white people in general, but, specifically, poor white people who seem racist. They, of course, will improve their argument with more ceremonious language, but the meaning of their argument is the same.

But this explanation is offensive to many things including reason. Why call only poor white people who are racist “white trash”? If it’s not about poor people, then who’s the last rich white person you called white trash? I’ll be more specific: Who’s the last white person you, in seriousness outside of an argument, called white trash? Also, when is the last time you called someone “white trash” based on something other than that person’s appearance?

The second reason someone will use to defend the term “white trash” is even less believable. It is usually something like this: It’s not that I think all poor white people are white trash, I just don’t like people who look/act “trashy.”

This explanation is completely unconvincing being that by “trashy,” they mean “like a poor white person.”

Oh, that’s not what you meant? Are you sure?

Let me ask: When someone acts “trashy,” (leaving aside sexual connotations), how do they act? When someone dresses “trashy,” how do they dress? When someone’s house or front yard looks “trashy,” how does it look?

The answer to all of these questions is the same: Poor.

So, if we can, let’s rephrase the second question to reflect its intent: It’s not that I think all poor white people are white trash, I just don’t like people who look/act like poor white people.

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